Sunday, May 02, 2010

Meal Planning, Week 3

Although I've spent most of my life as a seat-of-the-pants cook who loved to invent dinner on the fly out whatever was in season (or in the pantry), I've really enjoyed the last few weeks of planning a week's worth of meals in advance. I've over-ridden my intuitive instincts for a little while--and I'm trying lots of new cookbook recipes. By doing this, I'm learning some new techniques, experimenting with some new flavors, and getting lots of ideas for the future.

I found a few online link lists of meal plans and have really enjoyed clicking to see how everybody makes their menus. Two of my favorites are Menu Plan Monday and Mindful Menus.

What are you thinking about eating this week? Are you being inspired in the kitchen by books? Or are you being most moved by all the asparagus, strawberries, garlic scapes, or fresh peas coming into the farmers market?

2 comments:

Reading your blog has finally made me realize that I need to do meal planning throughout the week, not the night before or the morning when I'm planning to shop. This may seem obvious but it never dawned on me! So last week I actually looked at some recipes I had bookmarked, wrote down what I was going to make, and shopped accordingly. Nice! I'm never exactly sure what will be at the farmer's market so I left a little leeway for veggies as side dishes/salads. Now to start planning for *next* week already... =)